Smaller place, bigger tank...My 200DD build

[eric b 125]

I think if the RODI water changes go well, I'm going to snap all of my frags from their plugs and place them in the rocks. I hate seeing frag plugs.

 

[eric b 125]

Got the RODI hooked up to the nearest water source (bathroom sink) and I'm getting 50 psi from it-good enough. The kit came with a faucet adapter that has a valve on it so if we need to use the sink while the unit is in operation we can switch between the two. I'm very happy about this. I'm running it for an hour before storing any water, per the instructions.

Tomorrow I'm going to grab a float valve and start making water

 

[eric b 125]

Got the RODI mounted and making water. It produces water faster than I expected.

The PBT in QT appears to be improving this morning. A few more weeks and it'll finally see the DT!

 

[pegasus]

I love it when a plan comes together. Congrats on streamlining your operation. It's always nice when basic things like water changes become simple... lol! I keep a siphon hose in my tank. It's simply a piece of 1" acrylic tubing that I bent to form a U, attached to a 1" flexible tube that is tied into my drain. I start the siphon, and it drains to a predetermined point. When the siphon breaks, it stops draining. I have a duplicate tube assembly that I use to refill the tank. The same pump that I use to stir the salt mix is also used to pump water back into the tank. I have it plugged into a switched outlet, and when the tank is full, I flip the switch off. Easy peasy...

 

[eric b 125]

My water changes are pretty easy... I have marks on the tank that signify either 20 or 40 gallons and I just pump the water into the tank after having drained it. I just ordered the float valve so I can run water while I'm at work or at night-THAT will be very nice.

I might only have enough water for a 20 gallon water change since I will need to top off the ATO reservoir tonight and the day I get back from kayaking. 20 gallons is better than nothing, though. Once I get back I would like to get a few 40 gallon water changes in.

 

[eric b 125]

I know I said I was going to lay-off buying new coral for a while, but I've noticed growth in nearly all my frags since doing the water change. I *might* get some new frags next week or two-three larger colonies.

I should probably take care of those flatworms(?) first, though. Anybody have an idea as to what those are on the snail shell?

 

[pegasus]

I know I said I was going to lay-off buying new coral for a while, but I've noticed growth in nearly all my frags since doing the water change. I *might* get some new frags next week or two-three larger colonies.

I should probably take care of those flatworms(?) first, though. Anybody have an idea as to what those are on the snail shell?

I don't know what those are, but I had a brief case of them on the overflows and return line in my 40B. They disappeared after a few weeks, and I haven't seen any flatworms in the tank. If your find any, Flatworm Exit or a Sixline Wrasse will make short work of them.

What would be ideal is to have your ATO connected directly to the RO/DI, or use a float switch in the tank that would activate a pump in a top-off reservoir close to the tank. There are lots of neat options for placing reservoirs near the tank, such as a small cabinet, flower pot, etc. I use a float-type ATO in my refugium, and it's fed directly from the RO/DI unit. Has been set up like that for a couple of years, and the only time it failed to function properly was when the pressure switch on the unit failed. Just a couple of options to streamline top-offs...

 

[gemmy]

I had flatworms and my mystery wrasse took care of them plus the bristle worms plus my shrimp and brittle stars.

 

[eric b 125]

I don't know what those are, but I had a brief case of them on the overflows and return line in my 40B. They disappeared after a few weeks, and I haven't seen any flatworms in the tank. If your find any, Flatworm Exit or a Sixline Wrasse will make short work of them.

What would be ideal is to have your ATO connected directly to the RO/DI, or use a float switch in the tank that would activate a pump in a top-off reservoir close to the tank. There are lots of neat options for placing reservoirs near the tank, such as a small cabinet, flower pot, etc. I use a float-type ATO in my refugium, and it's fed directly from the RO/DI unit. Has been set up like that for a couple of years, and the only time it failed to function properly was when the pressure switch on the unit failed. Just a couple of options to streamline top-offs...

I have a 10 gallon reservoir under the DT and two 20 gallon storage bins. It's just a matter of getting onto some sort of RODI-running and water change schedule; two things I didn't have to worry about with the Kati/Ani and not really being able to do water changes. The auto-shut off float valve will be a big help bc I can just run water at night or whenever. I can't really connect the RODI to use as an ATO because of where my water sources are in relation to the tank.

 

[eric b 125]

I had flatworms and my mystery wrasse took care of them plus the bristle worms plus my shrimp and brittle stars.

LOL. These little things don't seem to be bothering anything...yet. There's enough of them that if they were going to be a problem, they'd already have made that clear to me. It'd just be nice to know what the hell they are.

 

[eric b 125]

The good news is that I should have enough water for a 40 gallon w/c and 5 gallons FW to add to the ATO reservoir on Sunday. On Monday I'm going to run more water and try to get the VorTech's situated as far as placement and electrical goes.

 

[eric b 125]

Picked up two larger corals on my way home from kayaking:

I will take better pics tomorrow. I'm just too whooped right now, LOL. I was going to do a w/c but the SW I mixed was only 1.020, so I added some salt and will do one tomorrow.

 

[eric b 125]

Completed a 40 gallon w/c this morning. Hopefully there won't be a bloom of any sorts. The only thing is that I had to use IO, and not RC like I'd prefer to do because of the emergency w/c I had to do on the QT when the heater failed...the LFS I went to only had IO. I did pick up some RC yesterday, though.

Hopefully my morning coffee will motivate me enough to retrieve the MP40's from storage and get them back on the tank. The Gyre is centered on the back wall of the aquarium, and as much as I don't want to, I think I might put a VorTech on each side and run them on long pulse mode, anti-sync. My goal was to not have anything on the sides of the tank, but my hope is that they will help push the flow from the gyre to the sides of the tank better.

 

[eric b 125]

The VorTech's don't look too-too bad on the sides of the tank. Since the side panels are so large there's plenty of viewing space. They don't seem as loud since they're not directly against a wall to reflect the noise plus I have the A/C window unit running so I can't hear them at all in the room. I was able to keep them running lower than before since they are just supplementing flow. I am still probably going to either going to get QD drivers or just get another Gyre and nix the VorTechs altogether. I'll have to see how this all pans out.

I also cleaned-up the fish closet a good bit, which is always a good thing.

 

[eric b 125]

While doing the water change today I noticed some growth between the last water change (and subsequent light increase) and now.

 

[pegasus]

Nice! Now... where are the "better pics"? LOL!!!

 

[snakeblitz33]

Looking good man. I'm jealous of those colonies.

The vortechs don't look bad at all! Most people who do professional pics of their tanks always pull out excess equipment during the shoot anyways, so I wouldn't worry about that as far as that goes. It's whatever benefits the tank best.

You have a huge tank to fill up! I'm sure it will in no time though this winter when there is less to do outdoors.

Have a good one man.

 

[eric b 125]

Nice! Now... where are the "better pics"? LOL!!!

Got real busy with the water change and VorTechs. Will try to remember tomorrow but I want to get that float valve installed and have some chores to catch up on.

Looking good man. I'm jealous of those colonies.

The vortechs don't look bad at all! Most people who do professional pics of their tanks always pull out excess equipment during the shoot anyways, so I wouldn't worry about that as far as that goes. It's whatever benefits the tank best.

You have a huge tank to fill up! I'm sure it will in no time though this winter when there is less to do outdoors.

Have a good one man.

Thanks buddy! I need to get some more reds and blues in the tank but I think it looks good considering the year I've had with it, LOL. A couple more weeks and the pbt will be in there and I can QT the next fish or two.

 

[pegasus]

I wouldn't get too crazy with the SPS until I had a few fish in. The corals need the fish for food, ya know...

 

[eric b 125]

I wouldn't get too crazy with the SPS until I had a few fish in. The corals need the fish for food, ya know...

I'm not going to add any more corals until the PBT is in the DT.

I'm not seeing any kind of bloom this morning. The lights aren't on, but I can see well-enough into the tank to tell that nothing started to grow. I'm pretty sure that it had to be something leaching from the reservoir buckets. I'm still very pleased that I switched from Kati/Ani to RODI. With the dual TDS meter and the auto shut-off, it's taken a lot of guess work out of making water. Also, the water saver model makes water almost as fast as the Kati/Ani could and the replacement filter packs are nearly as cheap as the chemicals for regenerating the resins in the Kati/Ani. Plus, hooking the RODI up is way easier (not that getting the Kati/Ani running was all that much work).

I got the float valve installed this morning...

It's so nice that I can stop putting-in all this time to keep the tank at 0. I spent a lot of time working on this thing over the last year. Now I can finally sit back for a while and watch it progress. This morning I can finally say that I'm enjoying the tank for the first time since setting it up. What a great relief.